This past Thanksgiving weekend, as is our tradition, we headed to Jasper with the whole family and one special relative who made it out here at the last minute from Winnipeg. Very nice!
Dad knew where Jasper was and the context of Alberta/BC/Canada was all very obvious to him. What was not obvious, was that we were there. So he would ask “where are we again?”.
But he enjoyed it a lot! On day one we drove straight to the “edge of the world” trail and despite all the fire damage and the “these trees could fall at any moment” warning, we walked to the lookout that he so loves.
On day two we walked our 10,000 steps….and so did Dad with the help of his walker! Amazing.
And we enjoyed several fabulous restaurants. One of which he remembered and one…I’m not sure….another one he could actually name….and one was totally baffling for him. But he ate heartily!
He was quite confused on Tuesday morning. But I need to back up slightly here. We drove home on Monday and then threw our suitcases in the house, had a quick dinner together and then drove to choir. That’s a lot. But we had a really good rehearsal even though we were missing almost half the choir! That’ll teach me to call a rehearsal on Thanksgiving Monday huh? Still, the people who were there did really well and we made lovely progress on all the pieces. I was proud of them all.
So back to Tuesday morning…..he somehow turned his oven on and reset his clock on it. He forgot how to make coffee but he remembered how to make his porridge. Isn’t that interesting? I think his routine was disrupted for 3 nights and then he felt unsettled. He did seem better by the afternoon.
He said to me “if I didn’t have you, I don’t know where I’d be”. That’s pretty self aware in my book. And I look after him for all of us. For my daughter and her wife, for my nephew, for my husband, for the memory of my mother, for myself, for him and by extension for the greater community.
Perhaps I pushed him too far and used up too much of his energy on the trip. But it’s hard to regret since we had such a great time together with our whole family. He does remember the weekend and speaks of it fondly so that’s huge.
I will continue to offer him these opportunities and push him. This is how we fight dementia. From all angles. I will not allow it to take him….yet….until something truly shifts for him and really doesn’t return, I shall continue my battle. Happily.
